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Political violence and the police in India

Increasing political violence in India is challenging the government's ability to resolve conflicts democratically. This book identifies patterns in political violence in India. It examines how the government's political machinery has responded, explains why State response has been inadequate; and recommends changes in structures and attitudes.Read more...

Political violence and state response in India --
The Indian police system in crisis --
Intelligence bureau: an instrument of partisan politics --
Central paramilitary forces: A parallel police force? --
Naxalite violence: What can the Union Home Ministry do? --
Violence against Dalits and Adivasis: Whither social justice? --
State-sponsored violence against the Muslims in Gujarat, 2002: a case study in police partisanship --
Political violence in the northeast: the human rights of ordinary people.

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

K S Subramanian's book is a well-written and scholarly work dealing perceptively with the problems of growing political violence in the country and the failure of the Indian police to combat it...Subramanian's scholarly book will be a valuable addition to the literature on police issues in India. His analysis is lucid and cogent and illumined by his wide-ranging study and comprehension of police problems and dilemmas in other countries of the world. -- The Little Magazine [This book] is well-documented and well-written...a good addition to the literature on the study of the Indian state, the police and the Intelligence Bureau. -- DNA (Mumbai) The author...talks of the increasing political violence in India that is challenging the government's ability to resolve conflicts democratically...The book concludes with suggestions for police reforms. -- Organiser The book is significant because it helps challenge the narrow confines of the public debate on police reform, which invariably descends into politician bashing and, therefore, see reforms as freeing the police from their clutches...it is a splendid reference book for anyone interested in understanding the role of police in the Indian state and society. -- Economic & Political Weekly A retired IPS officer, who stood out as a conscientious cop throughout his career, calls India...a seemingly democratic State that is highly militarised, using exceptional brutality against its own people while still picking up leaves from old colonial hand book...It is not often that one finds a senior police officer (albeit retired) writing about the army, police and paramilitary forces while, at the same time, calling a spade a spade. For this reason, K S Subramanian's book makes a remarkable reading. In 250 pages, he covers a wide spectrum of issues on political violence. -- Combat Law In case studies of regions and communities affected by political violence, Subramanian takes the reader behind the scenes-whether it is on police partisanship in the communal pogrom in Gujarat, the official approach to the Naxalite problem, the violence against dalits and adivasis, or the violation of human rights in northeast India. -- www.livemint.com In this clear and highly informative book, K S Subramanian, a former police and intelligence officer and an accomplished scholar, shows how, from the very moment of Independence, the new political bodies swiftly ensured that law and justice were replaced by law and order; order, namely established power, wealth and authority, was to be maintained by any means and at any cost. -- The Hindu With the clinical detachment of a highly skilled surgeon, Mr Subramanian has laid bare the innards of the Indian state with all its frightening ugliness. Sinister attributes of the state which he has so adroitly and masterfully revealed would fascinate, nay, hypnotise any discerning reader...Chilling, compelling and controversial it should be compulsory reading for all the entrants to the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. Even if one disagrees one must know what one was disagreeing with. It should adore the book-shelf of all serious students of Indian governance. -- Mainstream The separatist movements in the peripheral regions that question the very legitimacy of the Indian state's dominance were spawned by a variety of post-independence developments. It is such a landscape of violence that K S Subramanian portrays in the book under review together with, and this is what adds immensely to the value of the work, the response of the Indian state thereto. In doing so, he has delved deep into history, sociology, economics, mass psychology and electoral politics, not to mention administrative dystrophy and political skulduggery, severely affecting the Indian state's capacity to address and contain the rising tide of social and political unrest and violence, so as to pinpoint the structural and organizational infirmities of the Indian state and its various mechanisms in managing violence and conflict in a turbulent society...An important feature of the book is the plentiful data on many aspects of crime and public order that the author has meticulously collected to flesh out arguments...'The Indian police system as a whole ... is afflicted by organizational, managerial, and policy crisis. Politicization, criminalization, corruption, brutality and human rights violations are eating into its vitals. Public order maintenance and political intelligence take up most of the time of the Indian police with little left for crime prevention, crime detection and service provision. The police leadership has remained a prisoner of the political party in power at all levels and has failed to contribute to organizational renewal and revitalization, research and training and the nurturing of professional skills' (p. 57). -- The Book Review K S Subramanian provides a comprehensive, well-balanced analysis of the history, organisation and contemporary functioning of the central police forces (including the Intelligence Bureau). This is an up-to-date, insider perspective from a person with broad administrative experience, who is also sensitive to human rights issues. -- Paul R Brass It does not strive to make sensational disclosures or generate a shock. The book offers a methodical and near-comprehensive analysis of issues that confront the security of institutions which the author refers to collectively as the "Indian police system". His analytical tools are manifold but inter-related...The net result is a unique historical perspective that brings together academic evaluation of the macro issues on the security front and a distinctive perspective that encapsulates an understanding of even organisational matters at the micro level. More specifically, this is a perspective that could have been developed only by a person who knows the system from inside and at the same time has adequate academic credentials to advance a sociological discourse. -- FrontlineRead more...

Naxalites, Dalits, and Adivansis

This looks like a decent coverage and examination of its title on "Political Violence and the Police in India." It is good that it looks at Naxile, Dalit and Adivasi activities, especially related to the police and governmental actions.

Included in Appendix A is "A Brief Note on the Situation...Read more...

This looks like a decent coverage and examination of its title on "Political Violence and the Police in India." It is good that it looks at Naxile, Dalit and Adivasi activities, especially related to the police and governmental actions.

Included in Appendix A is "A Brief Note on the Situation in Gaya, Bihar" 4 pages from the 8 May 1986 report on the mid 1980s situation especially around Jehanabad, Gaya district.

"Political violence and state response in India -- The Indian police system in crisis -- Intelligence bureau: an instrument of partisan politics -- Central paramilitary forces: A parallel police force? -- Naxalite violence: What can the Union Home Ministry do? -- Violence against Dalits and Adivasis: Whither social justice? -- State-sponsored violence against the Muslims in Gujarat, 2002: a case study in police partisanship -- Political violence in the northeast: the human rights of ordinary people."@en